Public Essay
JavnoO slobodnom zidarstvu u 2026.
Freemasonry in 2026 undoubtedly stands at a crossroads.
An institution that for centuries has built its identity through ritual, symbolism, personal encounter and discretion now exists in a world of artificial intelligence, social networks, the digitalization of almost everything, and nearly instant access to information.
The secrecy once associated with Freemasonry can no longer carry the same meaning.
Ritual texts, historical documents and interpretations of symbols are now available to almost anyone who wishes to find them. The secret, therefore, lies less and less in possessing information and increasingly in the experience of understanding it.
A ritual can be read, a symbol analyzed, its history researched – but that does not necessarily mean that a person has understood what the symbol is trying to say.
Perhaps this is precisely where one of the greatest contemporary values of Freemasonry lies.
At the same time, Freemasonry faces the question of openness. Modern Grand Lodges increasingly present their history, activities and fundamental values to the public, seeking to find a balance between the tradition of discretion and a world in which almost everything takes place in public view.
Digitalization presents an even greater challenge. Digital records, communication platforms and remote connections between members are already part of the life of some Masonic organizations. There are even attempts to define the concept of “digital Freemasonry,” a digital Masonic identity and future virtual spaces.
And this brings us to a question I consider far more important: in a world of endlessly accessible information, what remains authentic knowledge?
It is here that the old Masonic symbol of the rough stone takes on a new meaning.
Artificial intelligence can find a text, explain a symbol and compare different interpretations. It can bring almost the entirety of recorded knowledge within a person’s reach. But it cannot build his character for him.
The stone that must be worked is not the information a person possesses. That stone is the person himself.
For this reason, the question for 2026 may no longer be whether Freemasonry is outdated.
The question is whether modern man still needs a space in which he is not expected to be faster, more productive, louder or more visible – but simply better.
If the answer is yes, then the old tools – the square, compass, hammer and chisel – can continue to speak to the person of the digital age. Not as relics of some secret society, but as symbols of measure, boundaries, discipline, work and responsibility.
But working on oneself has never been an entirely solitary task.
A person is also shaped through his relationships with others – through trust, responsibility, understanding, disagreement, forgiveness and the willingness to support another, but also to accept an outstretched hand when he himself needs one.
And here we come to the essence of brotherhood: not that we should all be the same, but that we should help one another become better.
Each person works on his own stone, but a temple is not built from a single stone.
That is why the Freemason’s temple is not merely the individual working on himself. It also takes shape through his relationship with others, within a brotherhood of people who share certain values while accepting the responsibility to live by those values beyond the walls of the Lodge.
The way we communicate may change. Technology will change, as will the way we preserve knowledge and perhaps even the way we understand community. But the human need to work on oneself, and not to walk that path alone, is unlikely to disappear.